Friday, May 13, 2011

The Beaver

"Ignoring the 800 Pound Gorilla in the Room"or"Uh-uh, Honey. Talk to the Hand"

Jodie Foster's new film, The Beaver, was always going to have an uphill battle finding an audience when it was released. First, it's about mental illness, but atypically for Hollywood, it's not a comedy. Second, it stars Mel Gibson (in a good...actually heroic...performance), so any review is going to feel obligated to slide in some mention of the "800 pound gorilla in the room."*Both detract from the film itself which has a difficult enough time staying focused on its issues, but at least has enough moxie to try and do something a little different—without tugging too hard on the obvious heart-strings.

Thank YOU. The thing is, "The Beaver's" not a better person than Walter, he's just chirpy and aggressive. Walter can go away and "hide" in his limbowhile "The Beaver" does all the P.R. work, chortling and being cute, while Walter fails to commit. Walter thinks that Beaver is a tourniquet on his arm, staunching the bleeding, but all he's applied is a band-aid...cover up the problem until it goes away. "The Beaver" is the "manic" while Walter remains the "depressive" and the puppet is just another room where he can hide, pouring all his effort into the surrogate, while ignoring the real problem.

Sidebar: Let's talk about depression. Full disclosure—I have suffered from depression in the past, but, just like fools, I don't "suffer" it now.** The instinct is to run away and hide and do nothing, lest you fail and make things worse. But, action is the best cure for it—to ac-cent-u-ate the positive and e-li-mi-nate the negative. It's "better than nothing," which is what depression inspires...a lonely, isolating cage of nothing. It's always better "to be" than "not to be."

But, that's hard to convey in a movie (and be entertaining about it, anyway). "The Beaver" has a brother-in-mind from movies-past, and that would be Harvey. For all its twee charm, great lines and James Stewart whimsey, Harvey is a film about mental illness—Elwood P. Dowd has suffered a breakdown from the death of his wife and has replaced her companionship with a "pooka" taking the form of a six-foot-three-and-half-inch ('lets get the facts right") juicer of a rabbit. The conceit of the play is to say that we're all crazy..."After this he'll be a perfectly normal human being. And you know what stinkers they are!"...and reassures us through stage-craft that we're just as nuts when we see doors opening and closing by themselves, indicating Harvey's presence. The charm of it, played for comedy, disguises the pain at the heart and soul of the play; I once saw a performance of it at the Seattle Repertory Theater where Dowd (Elwood P.) was a melancholic, sad, mournful, and that version of the play has always stuck with me, despite the weird shift in tone.

This is good, disturbing stuff. And an interesting approach by all concerned to a nicely buttoned-up screenplay that dots the "i's" (without putting little smiley faces on them) and double-crosses the tease, and dares to question the idea of "self" and losing it. Some might find it depressing.

But it made me smile.

The Beaver is a Matinee.

* If you wanna know about it (or if you've been living under a rock for the last few months), just "Google" Mel Gibson." I'm sure you'll find out what's going on quickly.

** Yeah, yeah, I know. "TMI." But, hey, I write, I analyze. It's what I do. It's why I'm here—on more than one occasion I've been told "Couldn't you just ENJOY the movie for what it is?" Some other Yojimbo can do that. It's not me. I'm critical with movies as I'm critical with myself—I aspire to something more in what I do and I expect it of anybody who sticks their neck out onto the creative chopping block. It's common among writers, actors...and, I am sure, puppeteers and ventriloquists, whom I've been fascinated with since I was a kid. All take on other persona's in their craft—something the movie makes clear—and more than a little analysis—self- and otherwise—goes into that. I wouldn't have it any other way.

*** I can only think, with horror, what this would have been like if, as was once the case, Jim Carrey or Steve Carell had played it, instead of Gibson, who looked the situation square in the eye and played it for truth, rather than laughs.

4 comments:

I actually wasnt too into this when I saw the trailer because I took away "comedy" from it...and also because of Mel Gibson, honestly. But you definitely make it sound worth a look. And I adore Anton Yelchin, he's not nearly in enough things. Good stuff as always.

Thanks, Sug' I appreciate it. This was a tough one to write...and re-write...and re-write (and then Blogger took it away—they cache everything, though, so I was able to restore it). Yelchin's really good in this and his scenes with Lawrence are terrific. But, like last year;s Rabbit Hole, it's a tough one to work up much "Let's Go to the Movies!" enthusiasm for. Sometimes, though, that's where you find cinematic gold. Worth a look, anyway.